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By Gable in the Globe and Mail (Toronto). CWS/Cartoonarts Internati... Feb 2010.


Writing Research Questions and Identifying Keywords

Once you have chosen a topic, think about questions you might want to answer through your research.
  1. List what you already know about your topic
  2. List what you would like know
  3. Develop questions about your topic
  4. List keywords that will help you search for information on books and on the Internet

If your topic is too broad, you can narrow it by:
  • Location
  • Time
  • Genre or event
  • Area of study

Visit George Mason University's Writing Center for tips on How to Write a Research Question

Practice finding keywords and learn search strategies here (click on the file below):



Where to find information?


CIS Library
  • Online Catalog
    • Books
    • eBooks
    • Websites
  • Research Guide
  • Research Pathfinder
  • Databases
    • JSTOR
    • EBSCO
    • ABC-CLIO

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Click here to open EBSCO







Click here to learn how to use JSTOR

Click here to learn how to use EBSCO

Other Libraries

The Danish Library / Gentofte Library
Sign up with your CPR card or a valid passport. You will be provided with a pin code that allows you to access their online databases, read e-books or reserve a book to be sent to the library nearest you.

Gentofte Hovedbibliotek
Ahlmanns Allé 6
2900 Hellerup
Phone: 3998-5800
E-mail: bibliotek@gentofte.dk

Some of the databases offered by the Danish Library are:
  • AccessScience
  • Current Biography 1940-present
  • Contemporary Authors
  • Contemporary Literary Criticism Select
  • Britannica Online
  • Europa World Plus Online
  • Masterfile (EBSCO)
  • World Magazine Bank
  • Oxford English Dictionary
  • Oxford Reference Online
  • Book Review Digest Plus
  • Freehandmusic
  • Press Display
  • Ebrary
(Look at their e-resurser derhjemme page)

Other libraries that might be helpful:
The Royal Library(borrowers must be over 18 years old)
Copenhagen Business School Library



Google and beyond...

Look beyond the first results page in Google. Here are some things Google offers that can help you with your research:

Google Alerts (Your personal research assistant!)



Google Scholar and Google Books



Wolfram Alpha Computational Knowledge Agent




Take a look at their tutorial








Search Engines Worth Trying

There are many resources on the web and it is not always easy to find quality sites. These search engines provide links to many reliable websites... a place to begin.

Finding Dulcinea

SweetSearch

The Virtual Library

The Complete Planet: The Deep Web Directory

Pinakes Search Launchpad




Thinking Critically

As you find and read information from a variety of sources, always ask yourself these questions:

  1. Who wrote this?

  2. Why did the author write this?

  3. When was it written?


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Bibliography and Citation

It is important to give credit where credit is due. Cite what you find using a standard format. Creating a bibliography and citing your sources will give credit to the authors of the information or ideas you used, as well as will allow those who read your work to easily locate the sources you used.

Use a standard format or citation style to list (bibliography) and cite your sources. There are many citation styles you can use. Some of them are:
MLA (Modern Language Association)
APA (American Psychology Association)
AAA (American Anthropological Association)
Chicago
Turabian
Numbered References
CBE (Council of Biology Editors)
AIP (American Institute of Physics)

Important points to remember:
  • You should chose a system of academic reference/style as soon as you start writing.
  • Any information that is important to your argument should not be included in the appendices or footnotes/endnotes.
  • You need to check that you have cited sources for all materials that is not your own.
  • The in-text citation and works cited/bibliogrpahy must be consistent with the referencing system you chose.
  • Everything in the in-text citation should be listed in the bibliography, and everything in the bibliography should be found in the in-text citation.
  • The bibliography should list only sources you used in your essay.

Watch this Tutorial about Citations!


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For Works Cited Page (a.k.a. bibliography), there are several online tools that can help you. CIS library offers a premium version of EasyBib. There you can also find tutorials on how to cite:

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For further help:



Note-taking Tools

Evernote "Evernote makes it easy to remember things big and small from your everyday life using your computer, phone, tablet and the web."

Zotero "An easy-to-use powerful research tool that helps you gather, organize, and analyze sources (citations, full texts, web pages, images and other objects)..."
See their Quick Start Guide and Screencast Tutorials
(Note: Only works with Firefox)